Tunnel, pedestrian bridges drain life from downtown

Tunnel, pedestrian bridges drain life from the city's sidewalks

Pedestrian bridges between buildings keep workers dry and comfortable, but they limit the activity on the sidewalks of downtown Houston.

Photo By Steve Ueckert/Staff Photographer

Shops line the tunnel system under downtown Houston, drawing pedestrians from the city's street level.

How does one experience a city? For some the distant, often romantic, view of a downtown skyline tells the story. But for most of us the best way to experience a city is by walking the streets of its downtown core, where we can see the sights, feel the ambience and experience the public spaces defined by the built environment.

In Houston, and a handful of other North American cities, that walking experience is less about being on the street and more about life above or below the street. Filtered through the lens of these pedestrian bridges and air-conditioned tunnels, one's experience is simply a simulation of urban life.

One could argue that pedestrian bridges, and the tunnels in particular, make good, functional sense in our Houston climate. Many of the tunnels also offer dining opportunities and limited retail at various key intersections. Nonetheless, it's still a controlled experience that unfortunately draws the life out of pedestrian activity on the sidewalks of downtown Houston. As William F. Stern, FAIA, puts it in a Cite magazine design review of 2004, "The transfer of large segments from the streets to overhead bridges, skywalks and underground tunnels, effectively dilutes the social milieu of the city." But with a network of nearly seven miles and connecting 95 city blocks, it's fair to say the tunnels are here to stay.

It doesn't make sense to blame everything on the tunnels and bridges. Many of the downtown buildings themselves don't present an inviting presence at street level. It's hot, it rains and with few exceptions, such as the old Rice Hotel, most buildings provide little or no canopies, arcades or colonnades to cover pedestrians from the elements.

So here's the question. How do we align those positive features of the tunnel system such as comfort and function with our desire to enhance the urban experience of pedestrians walking the sidewalks of our downtown streets? It's a simple answer in concept, but perhaps more complex to implement. If we connect the tunnels with the floors above at key intersections, the result can be a large-volume space shared at two levels and to some degree public. And to the extent we encourage developers of new downtown buildings and owners of existing buildings to improve their street-level presence by including covered sidewalks for pedestrians and openings from their buildings to tunnel intersections, we enhance the larger urban realm in Houston. To again quote Stern, "Bringing several tunnels together in a quasi-public space that opens the underground to the street level lobby utilizes two bifurcated levels of downtown pedestrian traffic allowing each to vitalize the other."

A more walkable city at street level and a more open tunnel environment will benefit many aspects of our central city. This has already been accomplished with various existing buildings. For example the tunnel opening to the street above in the building at 1000 Louisiana creates an inviting outdoor space and orientates the pedestrian to their location. Likewise the building at 1000 Main, completed in 2003, is a good example of all these elements including a 50-foot diameter opening between the ground floor and a major tunnel intersection, a covered colonnade on the east side, a retail bank and a restaurant with outdoor sidewalk dining at street level.

These physical improvements will work and they can be done. The result promises to enliven every aspects of our urban core. None more than retail. Initiatives for an improved downtown retail environment are already under way by the Houston Downtown Management District, and certainly Mayor Annise Parker's retail task force. The future can be bright if we connect the dots, above and below.